


The Big Gamer Giant

by Spacewriting



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: After Game, Alternate Universe - giant, Alternate Universe - giant and tiny, Angst, Fluff, G/T, Gen, Giant AU, Giant and Tiny, Post Game, Sunkist is a girl in this Au, g/t fluff, missing pet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24957538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacewriting/pseuds/Spacewriting
Summary: Gordon awakens back in Xen in some sort of fucked up dream that his brain had conjured up, with that same damn alien abomination is there as well. Now he’s trying to find a way to “wake up” from this so-called dream and find his way back to the real world.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman
Comments: 72
Kudos: 325





	1. Waking Up

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a totally different fic when I first wrote this. But now this is going to be a Giant AU because why the hell not? Also, this is my first time writing besides college essays for the first time in a year. So constructive criticism is perfectly valid.

There was a very dull ringing in Gordon’s ears as his brain slowly started to emerge out of its deep sleep stasis. His eyes being the first to flutter open as his limbs began to twitch and sluggishly move around to wake their host up. Now, this would have been a regular rise and shine for Gordon if it was not for the fact that he both felt like his head was going to explode, and that his body how weighed about as much as a house. Once his eyes were fully adjusted to the new light around him, and his glove covered hand… an orange glove hidden fist.

Gordon’s mind was sent into a flurry of panic as he forced his body to sit upright to look over his body. Yep, that’s the Black Mesa Hev suit, alright. And this was him in that same suit all over again. He steadily rose to his feet, the suit feeling like all that weight from the past black Mesa hell had now just been physically, and metaphorically, placed back onto his shoulders again.

To add injury to insult to his already panicking mental state, his attention was quickly taken to where he was currently standing. On that a rocky floating island, that was all too similar to that of the one he had been when He betrayed the team. His eyes would soon wander to another jagged floating island, then to another, and another. Till he finally had realized where he was.

He’s back at Xen.

Why was he back here? What else was there here for him to do besides just wander in this free void? Were there even any aliens around anymore?.... What was he doing before he got here? 

This was a dream; this all had to be a dream. He was still passed out in his bed in his apartment, just sleeping. Yeah, that’s it, just sleeping.

Those nagging questions ran through his mind as he glanced back up into the endless void of this world’s heavens.

The multi-colored sky of this strange alien world brought a bag of mixed feelings to the all too worn out Gordon Freeman. On the one hand, he was understandably terrified of being back in this realm of hell, especially without the science team by his side, or his trusty arm gun, this time. Now he was just all alone, with nothing but himself and the same damn HEV suit that he still had on.

At the same time, there was that strange feeling of serenity to this place. The danger that was so prevalent in this hellscape when Gordon and the team had to fight the eldritch abomination of a security guard was now gone. With the threat being replaced by a sort of lonely feeling, that he was truly alone, and that there was not anything that could hurt him now. In some strange way, he was now safe.

Or at least as safe as being in an extraterrestrial plain of existence can get.

Once Gordon’s legs finally found their strength again, he let go of the supportive pillar and glanced around the void, letting himself fall deeper into his thoughts once again. His memories of his time here coming back to him.  
The very first time that he had ever set foot here, the first time he truly feared Benrey and what powers he had. That same primal fear he felt when he saw just how physically big Benrey could get, easily the size of a nine-story building, maybe even beyond that for all he knew. Benrey could have easily wiped the team right then and there, just straight up decimated the team with that power. He had to play with them; instead, just toy with them even further. Hell, he also at one time Gordan though Benrey was about to eat him. Luckily, that did not happen.

It was quite terrifying to the man, but also intriguing in some way to Gordon. Just made him question further how that abomination’s body was even functioning at that size. How did his body not collapse from his enormous size alone? Was it all just alien biology? Or something beyond his imagination?

Goddamnit Gordon, you are a Physicist, not an alien biologist expert.

The rampant thoughts and internal arguments within Gordon blinded him to a slowly looming shadow that was crawling over behind him and covering the small island he was occupying. Only when a very familiar booming voice rang over him is when his thoughts immediately vanished and slingshotted him back to reality.

“yo feetman!”

...No. No, no, no No, NO! He was dead, he and the science team had slain Benrey, they saw that green lightning shit and those skeletons take his body. Even Mr. Coolata had said that Benrey had been “taken care of” and was an open and shut case. This couldn't be real; he had to be finally going insane.

If he turned around, Benrey would not be there, and it would just be his mind playing some sort of strange trick on him. Yeah, just normal anxiety, nothing else.

So Gordon sloooowly turned around and was greeted not with that same vastness of space like he was hoping for, but by an old grinning face, he hoped to whatever god above that he would never have to see again staring down at him. Only this time, that same face was even more massive than before and was now leaning on the platform he was taking up too much space for Gordon’s liking.

The sudden presence of the giant cause Gordon to scream in a mix of surprise and fear. While repeatedly backpedal away from him, tripping over and almost falling over the edge again. He let himself fall this time, hoping that he would either fall far away from the giant to escape or fall into the void for eternity. Both options were better than having to face his previously defeated enemy.

However, luck was not on Gordon’s side today, as something caught his fall not too far from where he fell. And wouldn’t you believe it, it was the giant hand of Benrey, clasping the quite smaller than palm-sized Gordon Freeman in his hand.

“still a clumsy boy aren’t ya gordo?” Benrey mocked in that same monotone voice he always had, dragging Gordon back over to him as he observed the tiny human flail in his hand like a captured sparrow.

“Let go of me, you giant fucking alien freak!” Gordon spat back, his hands immediately grasping the giant thumb that was pinning his chest down.

“what?”

“You heard me! Let. Fucking. GO!”

Gordon was expecting a more satirical retort from the colossal alien, but what he got instead were two giant fingers pinching the sides of his HEV suit’s helmet and popping it off of his head like he was just popping the top off a bottle.

“cant hear your cringe ass voice underneath that shitty helmet.” Benrey chuffed as he stored the unnecessary helmet into one of his vest pockets before leaning and placing his arms on top of the island that Gordon had been abducted from just moments before.

Gordon’s mind was still going haywire with Fight or Flight that he didn't even notice that he could somehow breathe in Xen without any problem. Only that Benrey was mocking him at this point and was just pronging his incoming death by whatever means Benrey had in store for him.

“A-Aren’t you going to like? Crush me? Get revenge for me fucking you up?” Gordon pipped up between ragged breaths from his futile struggles. “...W-Why, the fuck are you always toying with me like this?”

Benrey’s smug grin slowly slipped away into what could be interpreted as an offended look, as if Gordon had just insulted his pro gaming skills.

“bro what? no. why would i do that?”

The tiny human had ceased struggling, the sudden surprise evident on his face as he glanced back up at Benrey. “F-For kicking your ass back when you betrayed us?”

“ohhh, that.” Benrey finally realizes, seeming just to remember his defeat. “but that’s in the past feetman. none of that. none of that matters now. ”

“Wh-What?” None of Benrey’s reasonings so far made any sense to Gordon. Why, after all the hell that he put the group though, and vise versa in some cases, was he still chill with him like this?

“besides…” Benrey’s voice broke through Gordon’s internal questioning, bringing back once more to reality. “if i really did want to kill you again-” the giant hand encasing the smaller man started slowly squeezing tighter, causing the HEV suit on Gordon to squeak under pressure. “i would have made you game over already.” That same damn smug ass grin returned to his face, flashing his jagged fangs to prove his point further.

The squeeze made Gordan return to wriggling in the now tightened grip. Even gripping at Benrey’s hand with white clenched knuckles in a futile attempt to try to lessen the grip of the giant. to

He hated Benrey; he hated the fucker’s stupid toothy grin Benrey always had, he hated how the bastard knew how to get under his skin all the time. Gordon just hated him so much with a burning passion. However, there was always this other side to him where he had this odd admiration for the abomination—just something about how Benrey knew him all too well enough to tell what made him tick. And that stupid grin of his, those yellow fangs, that smug aura it gave off that always sent Gordon into a fury of emotions that makes him feel all sorts of things; most of those said feelings being something oddly positive. Rather those feelings were from a genuine curiosity for how this anomaly of a man worked. Or from more profound, suppressed feelings for this man. Gordon was aiming for the former of the two options; he did not want to admit he had any sort of feelings for this anomaly. Not at all.

“hey whoa, chill, it’s just a prank bro” The monotone voice spoke back at the struggling man as he let his grip loosen up and change position, letting Gordon sit in the palm of his hand while he caught his breath from struggling against an immovable force.

Despite having more breathing space, and an open opportunity to make a run for it, Gordon did not move an inch from his new sitting position. He knew if he attempted to escape, Benrey could just as quickly to recapture him, or even follow him around Xen. So there was no use in trying to run. But that did not mean he was going to let his guard down either. To him, Benrey was still a threat, a large one at that. So going all slack on him would open Gordon up to any possible move Benrey could make on him.

“How the fuck can I ‘chill out’ when you had literally just threatened me?”

“i didn’t threaten you.”

“Yes, you did! By squeezing me!”

“huh?”

Gordon groaned, slapping his hand to his face and just dragging it down in frustration. “Look, Benrey, I don’t know why the fuck you keep toying with me like this. Why you keep, fucking with me like I’m some sort of mouse or some shit just for you to fuck around with before you just- just. Do whatever fucked up thing you do to-”

The anger filled rambling was quickly cut off by a harmonious hum and being splashed with a giant orb of a blue, thick, and sticky substance. The goop covered Gordon’s entire body in one pop, from his exposed head to his covered feet. At this point, he wished that the HEV suit was not connected to his nerves, so he did not have to feel the cold drips that covered his whole body. And to Gordon’s misfortune, a stream of those same balls crashed into him like a tidal wave, nearly drowning him in the thick liquid. Some even got in his mouth, forcing him to swallow some of the sludge.

Powerade. The balls tasted like Powerade. It was that fucking Black Mesa Sweet Voice.

“calm down.” Was all Gordon could hear as he felt all that built-up tension in his body from keeping his guard up come crumbling down as the effects of the Sweet Voice took over his body. His body slumped backward and onto the rest of Benrey’s hand with a squishy thump.

The tiny human just laid there for a good while as his body adjusted accordingly to the newfound calming sensation of the sudden Sweet Voice attack. “Fucking hell, that shit is stronger than I remembered…” Softly grunted Gordon as he started to find his bearings once again.

“it’s really boring around here feetman. can’t even fucking play Heavenly Sword, or get my Play Station plus.” Benrey groaned in that same monotone voice, with the slightest bit of actual bitterness. He moved on as if he did not just cover a small man in his saliva orbs. “can’t have shit in Xen.”

Said smaller man had finally gotten his guard back up just enough to push himself into a sitting position again, slipping a bit due to the goop covering him. He could not figure out Benrey’s motives for the life of him. Was he honestly just bored and wanting someone to talk to? Or was he secretly hiding his true intentions? Those thoughts were just riling Gordon up all over again, making him bring his knees up to his chest in a defensive position.

“Then why don’t you just go and get it yourself?”

“i can’t leave, im world locked cringeman. not a high enough level.”

That got Gordon’s attention. Clearly Benrey could leave whenever he wants, right? He left Xen to follow him into whatever time traveling, portal, thing Coomer has sent him though during the fight. Right?  
“What? What do- didn’t you just like, leave Xen when you chased me through my past or some shit?”

Benrey paused, just staring at Gordon for a second before answering. “huh?” Making Gordon even angrier than before. He should have known that this conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere informative.

“Why can’t you fucking leave like before?”

That seemed to get through Benrey, and he responded with a shrug. “i dunno. just, can’t.” Even if it did not get any useful answer from Benrey. 

However, that answer left him with a seed of doubt and anxiety in his mind. If this wasn’t a dream, and if all of this was real, was he truly stuck? Was he stuck in this Alien hell with Benrey? Would he die here? He tried to push that doubt in the back of his mind as he forced his focus back on Benrey.

“Aren’t there like, portals or something around here? Could one of those probably get you out of here?” And possibly Gordon as well.

The giant paused again, his free hand drifting up to his chin as to ponder something. “yeah there’s lots of that shit round here. problem is. finding one that won’t make you game over immediately.”

“Well, at least that’s something. If it’s either dying here or dying quicker through whatever the hell is on the other side of the portals, I’d chose the portals.”

“says the squishy tinyman.” Benrey mocks, teasingly pressing his claw-tipped thumb against Gordon’s exposed face before it got smacked away by said the small man in both embarrassment and frustration. 

This was going to be a loooong dream.


	2. Gordon Freemans no good, very bad day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy!!! I just wanted to say thank everyone for reading and enjoying my Giant Au!! It honestly means a lot to me that yall really like this story of mine!!! So I'm going to make this a whole continuing series!
> 
> I'm sorry I didn't reply to many of ya'lls comments, I honestly didn't know how to respond to ya'll besides saying thank you and screaming. So I'm saying it now!!
> 
> Also, watch the tags when I post, cus every time I post a story, I'll update the tags as stuff progresses. And possibly be hinting at future stuff too ;)
> 
> !!WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER!!
> 
> THIS CHAPTER INVOLVES A DEAD BODY AND BODY DISPOSAL IF YOU DONT LIKE THAT, DONT READ THIS CHAPTER

After shaking the majority of the Sweet Voice slime off his suit, Gordon slipped out of Benrey’s hand and floated his way back down to the levitating island that he was standing on last. He nearly fell over once again thanks to his body not being used to the sudden change in gravity in Xen. Might as well get a move on before night falls. Or was there even a day-night cycle here? Fuck knows if there is.

Once Gordon was off Benrey’s sticky hand, he pulled the appendage away to wipe away the excess spit onto his pants. “you’re just going to use your cringe legs to carry you to the portal?” Benrey asked in his usual monotone voice, letting his arms hang loosely by his sides.

“Yeah? How else am I going to get there?”

“you can always let me carry you.”

That proposal made Gordon’s face contort into a sort of sneer mixed with a dash of fear. “I think I’d rather not.”

Gordon’s refusal made the giant gamer pout a bit. Well, Cringeman here was not going to be any fun now was he? He was always the stubborn type to the point where even if he was in a situation where Gordon was missing his hand, he still acts like he’ll be okay in the end. In some way or another, and Benrey loved that about the scientist man.

“come on bro. i. I can get us to the portal faster if i just take us there. does tiny fail boy knows where he’s going anyways?”

Shit, he had a point. Gordon did not have a lick of sense where the nearest portal would be, let alone where he currently was. All he remembered was that particular section of Xen, where he and the team had traveled through during the last stretch of their adventure, where Gordon was now looked nothing like what he remembered when he was last here. But Gordon was not going to let that deter him from going anywhere near Benrey again. He did not want to be picked up by that bastard yet again. He immensely hated the feeling of being so helpless in the hands of that damn giant, Despite having that very slight comforting feeling of being touched for once in his lonely life, even if it was from that same giant.

“I’ll find a way to one on my own. I just need to keep going in one direction until I see one.”

“epic cringe fail.” Benrey scoffed, floating over to the said of the island, now being eye level with Gordon. “still going to have to follow you. so that you don’t fall into the void.”

Gordon let out a defeated sigh as he began to look around for the nearest island he could leap to and not fall into the abyss below. “I know you’re going to have to fucking follow me.” He mumbled, noticing an island that was probably just a good twenty feet away.

Okay, Gordon, you’ve done this before. You’ve jumped longer distances than this last time you were here. You can jump this, even if Benrey’s piercing yellow slit eyes were staring right into your very soul. Fucking hell, he’s creepy at times.

So with a couple of steps backward, a starting run, a hop, skip, and finally a jump, Gordon was now weightless in the air, flying midway through the two opposing islands. For a very split second, there was a moment of pure fear, an Oh Shit moment, causing him to let out a panicked scream. His own paranoia was kicking in once again at the right place at the right time, screaming at him that he was not going to make it. Either that he was going to fall, and either Benrey was going to mock him for the “epic fail” or just let him fall, or both. More than likely, both.

Luckily Gordon would not have to worry about falling, seeing how he had almost effortlessly made the landing, a bit rough with some skidding but made it none the less. Still, the landing did not help at all with Gordon’s now racing heart.

“wow, you actually made it cringe man, you an… epic gamer now. wow” Benrey monochromatically commented as he effortlessly floated over to the same island Gordon was now on.

“...Shut it show off.” Scoffed the small mortal as he once again glanced around for another vantage point to jump to.

This same routine would continue for quite a while. Gordon would jump, panic, land, then get “complimented” by Benrey. (or in Gordon’s case bugged by him with nonsensical remarks) Rinse and repeat over and over again until Gordan decided to break the annoying rhythm.

“Have you ever tried to pass through those portals? Even once?” Gordon spat, just trying to at least change the subject to anything but his jumping skills as he took a quick break to catch his breath. This brick load of an HEV suit was making this whole zero gravity jumping more of an exercise than it should have been.

“yeah bro. shit’s so small tho that only my arm can fit through them.”

Gordon raised an eyebrow, “And do you remember what was though the portals?”

“..huh?”

“Do you know what was on the other side of those portals that you stuck your arm though? Could you feel what was beyond there?”

“oh. uh. sometimes, green Powerade. sometimes aliens. sometimes nothing.”

Well, that was reassuring for the one who was going to have to go through said portals.  
“And how often do those different outcomes happen? Like which one happens the most?” Gordon asked, lining and readying up for yet his next jump. This one with an island that had a bit of leverage over Gordon, so he had to make a blind jump here.

“the aliens.”

“Oh, fun..” Sighed Gordon as he made his next jump. Up and over the island and right into a dead human body that was hidden by another HEV suit.

The corpse caused Gordon to yelp in surprise as his legs came crashing down onto said corpse, feet were slipping over the blood crusted armor and leaving Gordon to collide with said body.

Benrey was not paying too much attention to Gordon as he should have, so hearing the clang spiked the giant’s intrigue almost immediately as he flew up to the higher island to see what the ruckus was about.

“did you kill this?”

“W-Wh, No! I-It was just here a-and I crashed into it!” Gordon stuttered as he scrambled back to his feet.

The body looks like it’s been there rotting here for some time now, possibly a few weeks? Months? Who knows at this point. And the armor looks like it’s been dragged through a cheese grater that showered in acid. Hell, even some of the bone was showing where the armor was practically disintegrated in places.

“Did YOU kill this?” Gordon retaliated back as he stared at the decaying body in disbelief still. Was this even still a dream? Fuck it looked real, and the smell was awful as well, making Gordon want to vomit at the smell of it. And the corpse had an HEV suit on, and it smelled like it was a recently dead body. So Black Mesa was still alive and kicking for some reason. Could they have already gotten to him?

“nah bro. i didn’t. the body wouldn’t even be here if i killed it.”

“...True. Because you would have eaten it or some shit already”

There was a pause.

“can i?”

“Can you what?

“eat it.”

At this point, Gordon was not even surprised at the giant’s reaction. Did Benrey even need to eat? Fuck if he knew, and fuck if he even cared. All he wanted to do was wake up from this crazy-ass dream.

“N-... You know what? Fine, I honestly don’t care anymore. At least let me see if there’s any good shit on this guy or not before you do that.” Gordon responded, leaning down next to the body, gaging as the stench got stronger as he flipped the body over. Gordon had noticed that in one of the corpse’s hands was a crowbar, his trusty weapon of choice in trying times like this, and a revolver, with a small used cartridge of bullets in a pool of dried crimson blood. This was not that much to write home about, but it had to do for now.

Once Gordon was done corpse looting, he simply nodded at Benrey for the reluctant A-okay to do what he wanted to the corpse as he turned his back to the beast so that he could find the next jumping point. Luckily all he heard was the sound of Benrey’s giant moving body and the loud sounds of crunching metal, bone, and squishing flesh. His ears did not like that at all, a shiver of disgust and fear ran down his spine, knowing exactly how Benrey was disposing of the corpse. Guess even eldritch beings have to eat at some point or another.

Fucking hell Benrey was so weird.

Gordon did not dwell long on Benrey’s snack as he made another jump to another floating rocky platform. This time he was able to get a much more definite view of a bright green sparking portal in the distance, bordered between two of those jagged looking stalagmites on the left and right side of the portal.

Wow, that was sooner than expected, but not at all unwelcome.

“Fuck yeah! Found one!” Gordon exclaimed excitedly, pumping his fists up in the air like he just scored a winning point for some imaginary team.

“oh that one. saw that one a few islands back.”

Way to take the wind out of Gordan’s sails, Benrey that just made Gordon’s arms flop down as he turned his head to glare daggers at the unresponsive giant.

“...Whatever.” muttered the slightly defeated tiny as he began island hopping over towards the open portal.

The thought of the portal dropping him in a possibly hostile environment like Benrey had warned did not cross his mind until he was standing right in front of the newly discovered entryway.

Didn’t Benrey say that there were aliens on the other side of these portals? How many? A couple, thousands? The numbers ran through Gordon’s head, trying to calculate his chances of what he could encounter on the other side of the green entryway, like a game of “What’s Behind Door Number One.” He was so focused on the number-crunching that he did not see Benrey looming over him, leaning against the island with a slumped position like he was waiting for the dry cleaners.

“you want big ol Benrey to check and see if it’s all safe for widdle cringe man?” God, he could not have said that anymore patronizingly, could he? That once again snapped Goron back to reality and his anger toward the giant.

“No-No I got this. I can go through this myself.” Gordon huffed, his hand tightening on the revolver in his right hand and the crowbar on his left.

“are you sure about that?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

“Really?”

“Yes.

“Re-”

“YES!” Gordon finally shouted, before darting right into the portal, just wanting to be away from Benrey for once.

The teleportation was fast, almost too fast for Gordon to process. One moment his body felt weightless like when he was island jumping, to suddenly feeling like the weight of all his problems and the world was tugging down on his legs, to being weightless once more. With the fun bonus of getting lightheaded midway through the whole three-second ordeal to the point that he might as well had been on one of those Tilt O Whirl rides at a theme park because dear fuck he was not used to this sort of feeling. 

It was over just as fast as he entered the portal, Gordon was on the other side. And despite Gordon’s quick reaction time to ready his gun, there was no alien in sight, not even Benrey. That was a much more significant relief to Gordon than not being met with a face full of alien.

Gordon was still a bit tipsy from the whole going from point a to point b in the matter of a few seconds that he did not have much time to stop himself from stumbling off to the side of the island. He tried to stop himself from stumbling further by forcing his body weight to the opposite side of where he was tripping over to, but that only made him fall over instead, right off the side of the island.

Welp, this day could not get anymore shittier, could it?


	3. It's Not Getting Any Better Is It?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING
> 
> ANIMAL DEATH IN THIS CHAPTER  
> (if Peeper Puppies even count as animals)

Yep, this was turning out to just be a no good, very bad day for Gordon now, wasn’t it? Just falling into the abyss of nothingness in Xen all thanks to his damn stubbornness to not let a giant ex-security guard baby him through this hellscape. At least now he was going to wake up from this terror like dream. This whole hell was about to be over soon, so why fight it now?

Well, Gordon was just about to accept his infinite void falling fate if it was not for him unexpectedly colliding back first into a surprising soft-ish surface. Besides this hard ridge line right where the not so protected part of his back was. It looks like the tiny man was not going to be waking up anytime soon now, was he? Damn it, more hell for him it seemed.

The tiny groaned in pain as he attempted to try and roll over onto his right side to try and push himself up to stand on this weird soft surface, but was cut short by both a strang bump in the ground. That was a strange formation; did rocky platforms in Xen always have messed up rock formations that looked like human features or-… Hold on a second did he just-?

“welcome back feetman!” Greeted that sickeningly familiar voice from underneath Gordon. It seems that he had landed right on top of Benrey’s face as he looked up. 

“How the fuck?” Gordon muttered, flipping himself over to straddle over Benrey’s nose bridge so that he was looking right into the giant’s lazy large eyes. God, he was not used to how small he was compared to Berney’s size; he’s not even tall enough to cover Benrey’s face. 

“i heard you get TPed somewhere above me, so I looked up, and your cringe ass flopped on my face.”

“I fell pretty far tho-” That’s when Freeman finally looked up and saw how far he’d fallen, not even a good few feet away was the island he was standing on. It was the equivalent of falling the hight of an average-sized human being. That would be around five to six feet that Gordan has fallen in total.

“you… you’ve messed up there buddy, didn’t chya?” Benrey mocked the still silent struck Gordon as he stared both confusion and embarrassment at the short hight in front of him. The mockery still earned him a swift smack on the forehead by Gordon’s crowbar. Gordon finally pushed himself out of his straddling position and used Benrey’s face as a jumping pad to launch himself onto the previous island, just so that he had a better viewing point.

Benrey did not even flinch to the smack and run besides just a soft “bro” as he floated slightly upwards to where the small man was standing.

“I think I see another portal over there.” Gordon points to a very far away portal structure, the only way Gordon was even able to notice the small blip of a green dot was the periodically fraying green lighting flicking here and there.

“Problem here is that there’s no islands anywhere close to it where I can quickly jump across to get to it.” 

“so you want me to carry you over there baby man?”

“No. I just need to find a way around here. There may be some islands above us that I can use to jump down on. Though it may be a bit too high, I can possibly break my legs with the hight. Maybe I can make a-” Gordon rambled on and on as he muttered his plans to himself, not seeming to notice that the giant was making plans of his own. Looking from the island, then to Gordon, then to the island again.

There was very little time to react as Benrey made his move, quickly snatching up the small man and floating back just a few feet.

“Benrey, what the hell are you doing?!” Gordon shouted, struggling once more as Benrey fished in one of his vest pockets for something. Once he found what Benrey wanted he was looking for, he pulled it out and unceremoniously shoved it onto Gordon’s head. It was a bit crooked, but Gordon could still see out of it, and he could tell this was his helmet that Benrey took off when they first re-met.

“i’m getting you over to the portal mini cringe.”

“How are you going-?” He quickly got his answer when Benrey had slowly swung the arm that was holding him back and using this free hand in the direction of the portal to line up his shot as his body weight shifted backwards. The seed of dread had just embedded itself into Gordan’s stomach, that same pit of fear someone would feel right when they were about to drop off the steepest drop on a rollercoaster.

There was no more time to make a protest as Benrey’s pupils constricted on the target, his neutral face rapidly contorting into a malicious grin. Then, the final send-off-

“YEET!”

Like a launched bottled rocket, Gordon was airborne, straight from Benrey’s clasped hand and propelling himself through the void at speeds that would possibly have broken something in his body if it was not for the Hev suit he had on. The only sound that he could even manage to make out of his lungs was just a horrific screech that slowly became louder as his body propelled itself closer and closer to its destination, the portal.

It would not take long for Gordon to go flying straight through the green entryway and catapulting right out of the other side. He collided with the ground as his body continued to keep moving forward, leaving a rut in his wake before crashing into a jagged rocky wall, that surprisingly did not just creator as he made an impact with the wall.

If it were not for Gordon now being both stunned and panicked by the sudden teleportation and crash landing, he would have been questioning how he was even still alive at this point from the pure bull shit he had just experienced.

Gordon just laid there, collecting his bearings of what the actual fuck just happened, mentally checking himself to see if there was anything broken inside or outside of his body. Even the HEV suit gave no warnings of any fractures or damage to him or said suit. His body still ached from the impact, however, probably some of the shock that did not help thoroughly numb himself to the sudden blow. This was some fucking dream, wasn’t it?

Soon Freeman was able to gather himself and slowly but surely move himself to stand on his own two feet again, dusting himself off and fixing his still crooked helmet. Okay, now to find where the hell he was. Gordon didn’t see Benrey, nor hear him anywhere, so that was a good sign. The plane he was standing on did look considerably more massive than the rest, hell it even had a sort of incaved dome to the edge of the platform that had strange noises coming from it. 

Wait, domes don’t make noises like those, do they? And wasn’t this the object that Gordan had smacked right into just moments before? Oh no, something was NOT happy in there, possibly because of the human’s sudden party crashing.

The sound of what sounded like a dozen echoing heavily alien canine barks and cries came from the small opening of the dome, slowly crescendoing into an ungodly orchestra of enraged noises.

Fucking Peeper Puppies, a whole hoard of them. And Gordon was going to have to fight the pack all by himself this time.

He readied his revolver, that he surprisingly still had on him despite the astronomical throw, checking the ammo one last time to make sure he had enough to fight the hoard. He may have enough if he uses it sparingly, the previous owner of the gun had used up most of the ammo, so that left him were a handful and a half of bullets. That would have to do. If any of the creatures got too close, his crowbar would be his last resort.

After one last quick check, and readying himself at the starting line, the gates of alien hell were opened and out poured a wave of multi-eyed alien dogs.

The sounds of gunfire, bullets finding their squishy targets, and the horrible howls of the Houndeyes as they charged forward towards the trespasser. Gordon kept his focus on the hounds, screaming as the hoard continued to advance, despite the number of peeper pups corpses starting to pile around them. The pack still kept charging, making the human back up even further to the edge of the land, but still keeping the hounds at bay with a growing mound of bodies the dogs had to climb over to get to the armored target.

How many of them were there? It was like the cave was a running faucet of hell hounds that would not turn off. Freeman could not focus on that now; he needed to focus on shooting and reloading. Once a round was empty, he needed to reload rapidly and continue to build the bodies up as speed bump for the aliens, that would give him enough time to reload and-

Wait, where did the rest of the ammo go? Did he seriously burn up all his ammo? No, oh god, please no. The dread pit was back again, this time in the form of a new possible way to wake up horribly. Falling into the void would have probably been a better way to wake up, but from being torn apart by those eyed hounds, that’s even worse.

All he had now was a crowbar, and fuck knows how many more Peeper Puppies that were behind the mound, guessing probably still a dozen more by the sound of the howls.

“Well, you’ve had a nice run Gordon, its been fun having to deal with Benrey and his antics again, getting yourself thrown at mac speed through the void, but that’s pretty much it. Might as well go down fighting before you wake up.” The exhausted man exposition to himself as he readied himself for the last stand.

So with the next wave of Peeper Puppies cresting over the mound of their dead brethren, Gordon brandished his trusty crowbar and let out his final feral scream, raising his crowbar to swing down at the pups.

However, his final stance would soon be cut short by a rapidly growing shadow over the incoming hounds, as a giant clawed hand crashed down on top of the pups, many squishy crunches echoing underneath the crushing blow. With dark green goo splattering out from the crush like a burst water balloon, splattering on everything around it, the hand, ground, even misting Gordon. The tremor of the strike also shook Gordon to stumble a bit again, this time catching himself before he fell off. Gordon barely even had time to process what was happening before the owner of that large hand spoke up.

“isn’t this like, the second time i’ve saved your epic fail ass from getting a game over? pretty cringe man.”

Benrey. Fucking. Benrey again. How the hell did he know he was in danger again? How? Those questions flooded Gordon’s exhausted mind as he observed the Giant smear the dog gore and guts all over the top of the island in hopes of wiping it off entirely.

The sounds of the hounds were now completely silent, the last wave being the one Benrey had just carelessly demolished with no afterthought. Rendering his usage of his limited ammo now all for nothing.  
At this point, Gordon could just feel his legs just giving out underneath him, falling to his knees before just laying face first in the ground.

“J-Just give me some time. I-I-Just a second.”

“whatever you say feetman.”

Please just let him wake up. Please.


	4. The Limit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended music for listening for this chapter:
> 
> Lovely - Billie Eilish  
> Eternal Youth - rude

Minutes passed as Gordon laid perfectly still on the green stained grounds of the once puppy infested island. His mind is still recoiling and recovering from the constant near-death encounters that he’s had back to back.

Why was this happening to him? Why was this his life? Why did he have to be stuck here in this nightmare? Why was his brain like this? Why could he not just wake up?

‘Pull yourself together, Gordon. This isn’t like you. This isn’t the end; you just need to find the right portal so that you can wake up. Yeah, just, wake up and forget this whole nightmare ever even happened, forget that you’ve even been with Benrey… And his giant size.’ the tiny man thought to himself, just so that the now impatient giant behind him would not hear his internal cringe monologue.

The small tremors in the ground from Benrey drumming his claws did not help at all with Gordon’s current mental exhaustion. He already wanted to strange Benrey to death with a twenty foot-long chain, and his commentary was only adding to that same burning rage.

“you gonna get up, little child?”

“I-I am I am.” Gordon retorted, his voice a mix of both exhaustion and annoyance. His body was slow to move as he forced himself to stand back on his feet again, glaring back up at Benrey, his helmet covered, tired eyes shooting daggers right back into Benrey’s half-lidded ones. God he hated this eldrich entity so fucking much right now.

Once Gordon was finally up and was able to take a single step, he already felt his legs starting to give away slightly, making him stumble more than he should have as a result. He just got up too fast was all; he was not tired at all. The however long he’s been in this alien world was not taking a toll on him right now, not at all. He’s just stumbling, Gordon Freeman is just losing his footing is all. He’s fine. Everything is perfectly okay.

Benrey, on the other hand, could sense something was off with the usual stoic human. He usually has a sort of air of confidence to him, that even after a mini-meltdown, he would always bounce right back to being the leader of the team and having a more controlled nature to himself. However, now he moved as if he had just dragged himself out of a six-hour work shift.

He did not like this at all.

But Benrey knew that Gordon was going to be stubborn as always when it came to admitting that he was ready to just up and pass out at a moment’s notice. So he stayed back for once, just observing the drained human as he was starting up for another jump to what he assumed was another island in the skybox.

“you sure you can make that feetman?” Asked the all too monochrome alien, with the slightest hint of what could be interpreted as worry in his voice.

Gordon did not decipher the underlying worried nature of Benrey’s question, instead of taking it as an insult. “I can, Benrey.” His voice dripped with weak venom as he lined himself up for another jump.

God damn Benrey and his condescending tone, always trying to fuck with him. He’ll show that alien bastard that he’s capable of continuing rub it in his face as well like he’s done to him so many times before the science team beat him down.

That bravado would not last long, Gordon’s legs screamed in agony at him as he made his jump, his leaping energy decreasing as his legs refused to exert as much power as Gordan’s body could manage. The poor excuse of a jump nearly made the man miss the platform, his boot only nicking the corner of the said island before flopping forward with a loud thud. Even his balance was failing him at this point, huh? God damn it. Gordon could only roll over onto his back, just laying there as Benery hovered over him, glancing down at his defeated form.

“...you sure you don’t need help bro?”

“No. No, I don’t. Just leave me alo-” Gordon’s words were cut off short by a giant hand being placed on top of his body, no pressure was applied to him, only the weight of the said hand was keeping him pinned.

“how bout this? tell me if you can get up with this idiot?” Benrey commented. This was all a cruel joke on Gordon, right? Not entirely, Benrey wanted to see just how tired Gordon really was. If he could push himself up with his hand covering his torso, then he was okay, and if not, then that would be an issue.

There came no words from the trapped man, only a deathly silence before Gordon squirmed to free his arms from underneath the imprisoning hand. Once those appendages were free above his head, he gripped onto the pinky finger that was closest to his chest and let out a guttural growl as he shoved as hard as he could. This attempt was proven to be a futile attempt to get free, seeing as how only Benrey’s pinky only was moved above his next finger after failing to push away against the others.

This was going nowhere; he was starting to look weak in front of the last person he wants to be seen by, Gordon had to think. If he can not move Benrey’s hand from off of his body, maybe he could get Berney to move it himself. But how could Gordan do that? He can not negotiate with the giant, he’s tried that before and has failed horribly. Force is not working either for him, either. However, there is one last option he can take, it is a rather barbaric option, but a last-ditch effort one none the less.

“you give up looser? gonna just lay there and give up like a loser?” And that commentary only fueled his decision making.

Gordon’s arms flew back up to his head, gripping onto the clunky helmet that he was forced to wear while airborne and throwing it right off his head. For a quick second, this confused the giant, what was he doin- Oh, he was biting his finger, directly to the bone, ow, that actually kind of hurt. 

A surge of sudden pain rippled through Benrey’s hand, causing his more human instincts to kick in and yank his hand off of Gordon, grazing his cheek with his little finger claw as he did so, drawing just a bit of blood. The sudden jolt of pain to Gordon also made him yelp, causing him to scramble backward once he was freed from the finger prison.

“bro the fuck? did you just bite me??”

“Well, you were the one who fucking put their big ass and on me! Not to mention you scratched… me.” Gordon trailed off, slowly bringing a gloved hand up to where the giant had accidentally marked him, flinching away from the small sting from the fresh cut on the side of his face. That was pain, real pain, and it hurt even if it was just a tiny cut; the pain was still obvious. When he looked at his own fingers, he could see smeared droplets of thick crimson liquid spread across the two fingers he used to touch the slash. 

This was not a dream, was it? Everything that he has experienced was real—being thrown through the skybox of Xen, Benrey just being alive, nearly dying twice. He almost fucking died, he actually nearly fucking die.

That god awful thought of death scared him more than anything he has been though so far. He’s treated everything like a joke like it was all just a silly simulation when in reality, he was skipping on the edge of death. How could he be so careless? Gordon’s thoughts were spiraling once more, this time spiraling downwards into a most dangerous direction. Another part of him was still holding onto that last thread of hope that this was all just a dream, despite the clear evidence now that the facade was eviscerated.

He had one last idea.

“...None of this is real, is it Benrey?”

“wha-?”

“DONT FUCK WITH ME NOW YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” Screched Gordon, his voice cracking as he shot up back onto his feet, his tired eyes were starting to get all misty, despite him trying to keep himself composed.

“None of what I’m experiencing, right now, is NOT real. Being here isn’t real.” Gordon took a step closer to the colossal giant, who, at this point, was stunned by the sudden mood change in the tiny idiot. 

“You aren’t real, I- The team had fucking killed you back here and then left.” the manic man motioned to the ground as to make a point like this was the same exact place that Benrey had been defeated. 

“You didn’t just fucking throw me though the atmosphere at whatever fucking speed just to get nearly mauled by fucking peeper puppies!” He took another step forward, this time right in front of Benrey’s chest, jabbing a finger into the guard’s vest like he was trying to intimidate the much larger being.

“I DIDN’T JUST GET FUCKING HARRASSED BY THE SAME FUCKING ASSHOLE WHO FUCKED OVER MY ENTIRE LIFE, MY DREAMS, EVERYTHING!” Gordon finally shouted again, slamming his small fist into the guard, barely making the guard even flinch an inch despite the impact making a thudded echo around the,

After the punch, Gordon had stayed silent, leaving his clenched fist connected to the guard. His legs were shaking like a newborn calf’s legs, right before he finally let them give way so that he could fall to his knees, slamming his head into the guard to replace the fist.

“...I didn’t just almost die….Twice… Did I?” Pain and exhaustion mewled out of his voice, small plips of tears falling from his heavy eyes and dropping onto the dry alien earth below.

Benrey just let all of this happen, let the poor man scream out all of his built-up frustration, let him beat himself against his chest. He honest to fuck did not know how to help with the man’s problems, like yes, he knows that it was his betrayal that sent his life into a worse downward spiral than what Black Mesa was already doing to him before. Now was different, there was no Black Mesa anymore to hurt Gordon, there was only him, Benrey and Xen if there was a time to at least try to make up for all the shit he’s put Gordon though in the past, it is now.

So after some still silence, save for some occasional hushed soft sniffles, the surface Gordon was leaning on started to shift, and a giant claw had enveloped his entire small form. Gordon would have been struggling, shouting at Benrey to let him go, but all that screaming and the emotional outbreak had officially drained him. Whatever Benrey was going to do to him, crush him, kiss him, eat him, he did not care anymore; he would just go with it. He did not even prepare himself for any incoming threat; he just accepted his fate. If death was to come for him now, might as well just face it.

Instead of any expected sort of cynical verbal, or physical, retort from Benrey, he only felt his body being lifted into the air before being let go, plummeting into a surprisingly soft fabric like ravine. His body naturally cradled into the curve of the valley when he had slipped entirely into the capsule. There was a very faint light coming from above him as the slot he entered at was still open, and the strange light of Xen was illuminating the light blue surface of his new padded cell.

What the hell did Benrey do to him? Did he seriously put him in his pocket? Gordon tried to stand up in the strange place, looking above him as he couched to see an opening to poke his head out and see where he was. He managed to get his head out of the rift as Gordon noticed that he was now staring out over Xen again, with the bonus of noting that he was actually in Benrey’s shirt pocket.

Only for a giant pointed claw to push him right back into the pocket dimension.

“Benrey what the hell are you-?”

“aren’t you tired bro? don’t you just wanna pass out and sleep for a while?”

“But, I’m not…” Yawned Gordon as he slumped back down in Benrey’s pocket. Fuck he really was this tired, huh? He did just pour his feelings out to the alien who had tried to kill him before this whole fiasco started. Maybe he was just a little tired.

“I’m not tired.”

“say’s the tired child-man yawning up a storm in there.”

Benrey reached out to grab the previously discarded helmet from the island and place it back into the same pocket Gordon was laying in, clanking against the legs of the HEV suit. After dropping that off with its respect fill owner, Benrey took off, flying in whatever direction he wanted to take.

“big ol Benrey here will find the next portal. small boy just get some sleep while I do that. k?” 

Gordon didn’t answer Benrey’s order, his tired mind finally taking control and starting to shut down into sleep town. His legs lightly pushed his empty helmet up and into Gordon’s arms so that he had something to hold onto as his head leaned against one of the walls of the pocket. There was a muffled rhythmic thumping noise coming from said wall, like a heartbeat. Actually, the more Gordon thought about it, that was Benrey’s heart or at least some sort of organ close to a heart. It was very oddly relaxing for the drifting Gordon, some kind of lullaby that consisted of only a few notes. Even odder that it was coming from Benrey of all people, then again, Gordon was drifting off into sleep, so he did not have room to argue here.

Maybe when he wakes up, he can ask Benrey why he’s being so kind to him now.


	5. Loading World Chunks...

Time did not seem to work the same in Xen as it did back in Benrey’s old world. The skybox that encompassed the entirety of the alien world never darkened into a night sky, or brightened into a morning sunrise, if this world even had a sun to begin with in the first place. The constant tie-die colored galaxy only flowed slowly around like a lake made of clouds, no darkness, sun, or anything, just a continuous plane of strange existence. 

Maybe the lack of time made Gordos’s mind go into ape shit mode the longer he was exposed to the unusual nature of Xen. His mind was trying to put together a logical explanation of what he had been experiencing. Chalking it up to just a weird fever dream that just felt too fake to be real, only for his mind to finally shatter at a breaking point and just break down completely.

That’s what Benrey’s mind was thinking of as he aimlessly floated through the emptiness of Xen, forgetting his objective of finding another portal for the unconscious Gordon. His brain was only filled with anxious thoughts of Gordon, just thinking of the small man’s well being all around. Gordon has been through so much, even before getting thrown into this place.

The baggy exhausted eyes that Benrey has stared into so many times have shown the overburdened soul that Gordon was carrying on his shoulders. Benrey wanted to help relieve that burden from the small man, but what could he do? Gordon hates him for sure after all the bull shit he’s put him through, so there was not much Benrey could do trust wise with him. He was also not the best when it came to expressing his words in any meaningful way, coming off as harsh, or even rude. Benrey did not know why he said the words that he said; he just wants to help Gordon. He never wanted to be the bad guy in his story; he honestly wanted to be something more than just a friend, or a nuisance. Possibly a partner? That was wishful thinking on Benery’s part.

The giant slowed down his directionless flying as he reached a hand toward the shirt pocket he had placed Gordon in to pull the opening of the pocket lightly to get a better look at the still slumbering tiny man. Fuck he looked so peaceful, just curled up around his helmet like a small child with a teddy bear. Even his face was relaxed, none of that scowling nature that Gordon always had whenever he was deep in thought. Or that unyielding rage that was plastered continuously on his face whenever he had to face Benrey. Just closed eyes, relaxed jaw, and a mellow expression. Gordon’s chest was steadily rising and falling with every breath he took, even under the dead weight of the dreaded HEV suit that still covered his entire body.

Fucking hell Gordon was adorable. This was the first time Benrey had seen the physicist this at peace, hell even sleeping this well at all. Last time he watched Gordon sleep was back at Black Mesa on that patented, cold, rough concrete grounds with the rest of the science team. He did not look comfortable sleeping like a rag doll sprawled out on the hard ground like that. This was a first for both of them, for sure.

Another thought ran through Benrey’s empty head, debating on rather his next action would possibly wake the sleeping baby man or not. The slight hesitation in his movements made it all the more anxiety-inducing for the giant as he slowly reached into his pocket, two of his fingers extended towards Freeman’s head. The repeated, continuous phrase “please don’t wake up” raced through his mind at least a thousand times before his fingers made contact with the top of the tiny’s head before going to rest them on the side of his head. No movement from Gordon, good, Benrey continued his actions, softly petting Gordon’s head. Was his hair always this messy? It was not as dirty as Benrey’s but still warranted for thorough bathing at some point.

However, from the soft caressing came a quiet mutter, making Benrey freeze in his place, his arm becoming an iceberg. Fuck he woke him up, didn’t he? Stupid idiot Benrey, can not do anything right. Now he’s going to have a cranky and more drained Gordon in his hands.

Or that was what he thought before he felt Gordon’s head slowly lean into the touch, surprising Benrey. Whelp, never mind that previous thought then, looks like Gordon was out like a light for a while then. So Benrey continued his gentle rubbing, slowly petting in circles before he felt something turn in his pocket, two whole miniature appendages wrapping around his two fingers and holding it closer to Gordon’s body. Now his fingers have become the makeshift teddy bear, this is fine, this is great actually, no cap. This was probably one of the greatest moments in Benrey’s whole existence. A soft smile crept across the alien’s face as he softly bent his claws to cradle the tiny sleeping scientist gently, still keeping him and his fingers in his shirt pocket as he once again started to float aimlessly around Xen slowly. His empty brain now filled to the brim with the thoughts and images of a small sleeping Gordon curled like a baby rat against his fingers.

He could only hope that this good nap would help Gordon lift whatever burden was on his shoulders, and also hope that this will start to remend their broken trust from the past. But that’s a REAL BIG hope right there. Who the hell knows if Gordon would ever forgive him for the trauma he has bestowed upon him. Fuck knows he still did not forgive himself for it, not in the slightest. There’s always that little possibility of forgiveness, it’s just very, very slim for Benrey here.

A sudden surge of strange energy broke Benry out of his homosexual thoughts, alerting him to a seemingly random point in the Xen plane. This sensation was the exact same feeling when he felt Gordon enter Xen. Someone else had entered his prison realm. However, he was not as quick to greet them as he did when Gordon first reentered. He remembered Gordon not remembering anything from how he entered Xen, or at the very least he did not ask. More than likely the ladder of the two.

None the less, Benrey followed the burst point of the new signal, keeping his hand in his pocket so that the clinging Gordon wouldn’t wake up from his much-needed slumber.

The travel was pretty far from where the two were last located, past a few landmarks that Benrey had grown familiar with in this alien plane and into a completely different part of Xen that Benrey had never seen before. The sky that was once a more clouded tie-dye mess was bleeding into a violet watery galaxy. The air itself looked less like the haze of multi-colored vape and looked much more like an actual galaxy, filled with countless dotted stars and clusters of carefully spun strands of stars and galactic gas. A bright blue light source light up what remained of the land could be seen by a fracture in the purple sky, casting everything around it in a purplish-blue hue.

The floating landmasses were another aspect of the new plane that Benrey had just noticed as well. They were not just flat, dusty islands that possibly housed a few rocky pillars littered with alien machinery ran by said aliens with nothing more. They were shaped with rough, overarching arches, deep sinking caves that connected to other parts of the same island it was formed on, or even connecting to other islands that managed to be clustered together, or close to, other islands. Spiraling stalactites and stalagmites jutting from any surface that was not already taken by any different formation. Even some large rocks and stone debris was levitating aimlessly in the more empty parts of the lilac void. That did make it slightly more annoying for Benrey to traverse the new role of Xen, but he was able to push past those and continue on his path to the surge point.

As he traveled more in-depth into this new land, he noticed that the islands were blooming with vegetation. Long grass patches, bioluminescent fungi like spores growing out of any surface it could latch itself onto, even some coral-like plants that were sprinkled here and there on different islands. Waterfalls were also present in this part of the universe, pouring glowing liquid into other bodies of water, just to be poured out into another one. Benrey’s eyes would be drawn to protruding luminous, colorful crystals on many different parts of the islands, littered everywhere that the fractured universal light wasn’t already illuminating.

The unusual scenery alone would have gotten Benrey entirely taken off track if it was not for the constant surge of a newly opened portal, that was slowly dwindling as the giant took his sweet time getting there. With the addition of Benrey flying right though a swarm of unfamiliar aliens like a speeding car through a cluster bugs. The smaller aliens exploded against Benrey’s face and shoulders while the big aliens simply bounced right off of him. This caused Benrey to come to a screeching halt as his hand flew up to his face to desperately wipe off the alien guts from his face with his only free hand. This only smeared the gore further as he spun around to look at the still floating unknown. It reminded him of those weird underwater water pancake fish he had seen on Wikipedia, only more glowing, and fleshy looking. Stingrays were what they were called, right? Yeah, that sounds right. The ray did not seem to deterred by the sudden decrease in its school’s population as it continued to fly on. 

Benrey only continued to stare for a bit longer before returning to fly on his own path, checking on the sleeping man in his pocket to make sure that the sudden crash had not wakened him up. Which luckily, it did not, still cuddled up to Benrey’s giant clawed fingers as he continued to sleep the rest of the adventure in sweet silence.

The silence would not last long as the giant was starting to approach the contemporary spawn point, tucked slightly out of sight in a shallow pit cave. The view of human-made machinery placed in and around the cave did not sit well at all with Benrey. That meant Black Mesa had already sunk their claws into this part of Xen too, never a good sign to have in this world. So Benrey got a little closer, his own oversized body being too large to fit in there himself, so he did not try to climb in said cave. He chose instead to lower his head to peer inside the cave, noting the portal pad that the now weak energy surge was radiating from. His eyes followed the trail of boxes and machinery that was strewn about the cave, boxes of fresh ammo, testing supplies, and even some smaller boxes of rationed food. It looked like it’s been sitting here for some time, maybe Black Mesa had already ravaged this part of Xen for all it had before either up and leaving, or in the better case, perishing while they were here. 

His gaze was soon directed to some close rustling of some boxes like someone was trying to pry open said box. Benrey was not surprised someone would have made their way through the portal, but on slightly closer inspection, something about the intruder was extremely familiar to the giant. They were taller than Gordon, by a few inches but still rather noticeable. The way they spoke with stutters here and there as they muttered to themself in the cave base was exactly like his old soda-loving friend; even the voice matched him. Benrey had to try something, it may finally way Gordon up, but he at least had to try.

“TOMMY!” shouted the giant, his voice bouncing around the open cave as the taller human might as well have jumped right out of their pants tripping over the box they were just fishing through and falling backside first into it, possibly crushing whatever was inside.

On instinct, the supposed Tommy yanked out his gun and fired directly at the source of the voice, the shot echoing around the cave before landing on its target, square in the right eye, causing the gooey orb to pop and bleed acidic teal blood. If Benrey were a normal giant, that shot would have caused him to drop dead right then and there with horrid brain damage, but luckily he was not, and the bullet hole that had punctured his eye healed right up.

“yoooo, bro. why’d you do that to a friend? not cool.”

The vocal response from the giant got the scared small human to lower his gun and stare up in utter bemusement of the entity in front of him.

“...B-Ben-Benrey?” Even his voice sounded unsure of what he was seeing. Was this not his old... Friend that tried to kill him and his other friends? Well, he was spared during said fight, but Benrey did still try and hurt his friends in the end, and that was enough to have Benrey on more than just thin ice with him. Now Benrey was back, gigantic, and fuck knows what he wanted to do with him. He couldn’t take any more chances, not even with his ex-friend in front of him.

“yep, that’s me, friend!” He seemed almost too happy to see him, that toothy grin did not sit right with Tommy. Slowly pushing him out of the box he had fallen into, his hand still firm on his gun he had brought with him through the portal.

“H-How are you still alive?”

“i… don’t know bro. just woke up in another chunk after everything happened.”

That didn’t really answer his question, but knowing Benrey, he would not get much out of the anomaly.

Tommy was about to ask him another question until there came a muffled shout from Benrey’s shirt, taking both being’s attention away from the tension between each other to the confusion of the familiar voice. Benrey’s hidden hand yanked out a startled dangling Gordon that hung helplessly from it, being woken up late by either the gunshot or Benrey’s excited shouting.

“What the hell is going on-?!” He stopped mid-shout as he had then just realized the complete change in scenery. “Where are w-” And also spotting a familiar friend. 

“Tommy?!”

“Mister Freeman?!”

Gordon wiggled himself off of Benrey’s claws and leaped to the entrance of the cave that Tommy was situated inside. Tommy came sprinting over to meet Gordon as the armored man did the same.

“What the hell are you doing here man?!”

“I-I don’t k-know! I was promised to let me go if I just came back in here to collect some sort of fucking “research” they had left here. B-But I think they want something different now that you two are here.”

That compromise made Gordon’s blood run cold. Who made a deal with Tommy? And what did they want with Tommy?

“Tommy… Who are “They?”

Tommy was silent, looking at his feet as his arms came up to cradle themself in an attempt to comfort himself.

“...Black Mesa”

..Oh, god, oh no. Please no. Gordon thought that the residence cascade had left that corrupt company a war zone of aliens and US Marines, a dead zone. Now they were back? And they had already found Tommy?... Did they already find him? Was this why he was here already? Black Mesa had already found him and had just tossed his unconscious body into here in hopes that whatever they were looking for would kill him. Possibly in hopes that his corpse would be used as bait to draw out whatever they were researching for so that they could get their hands on said “research.” Judging by past events, and the reasonably old equipment, they may have been tracking Xen remotely from their world, despite ties to potrals and dimension-hopping being severed by the time Benrey was defeated. They may have picked up on Benrey’s presence back in whatever old part of this alien realm Gordon had woken up in.

Gordon shoved all those theories aside, for now, focused on Tommy, and what the hell they were going to do next. 

“Okay, so does Black Mesa have any way of tracking you?”

“No.”

“So, they just threw you in here as well?”

“Yep. This is what they meant by “letting me go” anyways.”

“Yeah… That’s what they probably did to me as well.”

“And you don’t remember anything, Mister Freeman?”

Gordon shook his head, sighing a bit. “Nothing. Fuckers must have snagged me while I was sleeping or something.” That thought still terrified the man. “Looks like they hoped that whatever they were looking for would kill us right away.”

“but that didn’t do shit, huh? cringe mesa didn’t know that big Benrey boy was helpin’ his friends, huh?”

Benery’s longer than usual commentary caught the attention of both of them as they both stared at the grinning giant. Did he know that he very well might be the research they were looking for? Probably, then again, Benrey was not one to care much for being seen as not human when he already knew he was not one.

Tommy, however, still looked confused at the statement. “No o-offense, B-Benrey. But Mister Freeman, what does Benrey mean by “helping out?”  
Mister Freeman paused, looking at a not offended Benrey then back to Tommy, his face showing a bit of hesitation.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but if it weren’t for Benrey, I would have been dead long before you got here. He’s saved my ass from getting mauled so many times.”

“and catching your dumb ass from falling.”

“Shut it!” Gordon barked back, his face tinting a slight shade of red from embarrassment at that confession.

Benrey saving someone? Benrey actually saved someone for once? And it was Gordon none the less? That can a surprise to Tommy for sure. Was his friend really trying to turn a new leaf and be the good guy this time? Tommy only hoped so, and seeing from Gordon’s interactions with the entity so far; it was showing some promising results.

“A-Anyways, do you two want anything to eat? There’s a rations crate around here. And I’m guessing that you two must be pretty hungry from being down here so long. Hopefully, they have some soda!” Tommy responded, making his way over to a stack of crates stacked on top of each other.

Now that Gordon thinks about that, he was starting to get hungry. How long has it been since he ate? It did not matter now; he could eat now.

“Sure, I’ll take some. I don’t know about Benrey though, I’ve seen him eat some weird shit as of late.”

“it was just one body feetman.”

“Please don’t remind me of that before I eat Benrey.”


	6. Short Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for this chapter being so short, I was on a roll writing chapters for both my Naga fic and this one. I ended up losing steam right after writing the last part of this one. The next chapter will be longer I promise.

Tommy rummaged though a box that Gordon had generously smashed open with his own crowbar. Sadly the selections for consumables were minimal, only consisting of packages of vacuum-sealed food and surprisingly some unopened Sunkist soda cans. This had to be one of the luckier finds that Gordon had stumbled across during his time being in Xen. Much better than looting a mangled corpse or an alien nest for resources.

Gordon reached into the crate to grab a bag of hopefully not expired beef sandwiches and a can of Sunkist. Once Tommy had gotten his bag of tomato soup and an extra can of Sunkist, he joined Gordon with his food on a rock outside the cave, setting down his lunch before hopping up onto the stone to sit with the other human of the slowly forming group.

Gordon had some issues right off the bat with his food, struggling to open the sandwich bag with his gloved hands, even his teeth were having trouble puncturing the bag. It took Benrey offering one of his giant razor-like claws as a bag ripper for the container to tear just enough for Gordon to finally reach his meal. Tommy also used this kind gesture from Benrey to poke a hole in his own food sack, if only still cautious about the giant, still not entirely comfortable with the old friend just yet. 

The duo of survivors sat in silence for a bit, focusing on filling their empty stomachs. At the same time, the not hungry giant of the group either observed the two eating while leaning his upper body on the floating cave or just staring off into space, letting his mind entertain him.

After a bit of chow time, Tommy decided to break the silence and fire off his questions for his human friend.

“S-So...How d-did you find Benrey?” Tommy asked as he popped open his fizzy soda to take a swig from it.

“Well, it’s more so that he found me,” Gordon replied

“I just woke up here, or at least in another section of this place. And Benrey just found me from there. Felt like a nightmare than anything.” 

“A-And you don’t remember anything beforehand?”

“No, I don’t…” Gordon paused for a second, looking back down at his unopened can of soda, a memory slowly starting to arise in the back of his mind. “Come to think of it, all I remember before winding up here is going to bed in my apartment and then waking up here. Could Black Mesa have like, found me already?”

Tommy had paused as well, sighing a bit as an ‘I knew you were about to say something like that’ look spread across his face. “They v-very much have Mister Freeman. How do-do you think I wound up here?”

The pit of dread that Gordon had been growing in his stomach just now blossomed into the growth of fear and worry. He knew for a fact that Black Mesa had already gotten their hands on him and thrown him into this hellscape, he’s already accepted that reality. However, now that Tommy was here, and Black Mesa throwing him to the alien hounds as well, would they be going after the rest of the science team? Or do they already have them? That thought worried Gordon more than his well being at this point. He never wants the team to be dragged into his problems, not again.

“...What- How did Black Mesa get you, Tommy?”

“They somehow found my address to my new home and took S-Sunkist and me hostage. They brought me back into the labs and told me ‘I-If I-If I didn’t do what they ordered, then-then they would hurt Sunkist!’ So they made me go through this portal to try and find some sort of ‘research’” That part about Sunkist made fold his hands together, nails digging into his palms as he tried to keep himself grounded and not lose it in front of Gordon.

“But Sunkist is immortal, right? She can’t die.”

“I-I know that Mister Freeman. B-But, I really don’t want Sunkist to get hurt! She may be immune to turrets, but those bastards will find some way to h-hurt her! A-And I do-don’t want her g-getting hurt!” Tommy’s voice raised further in stress, panic, and worry. That dog meant everything to Tommy; she was his light in the darkest of times, she was his best friend, and he never wanted her to get hurt. Yet here he is, without her while she is in the hands of the very foundation that has fuck over his life, along with countless others. He felt scared, vulnerable, and alone, despite having the only two people he gave the slightest care for in the world being right next to him. The group did not feel there to him, he just felt alone again, and that terrified him the most.

Tommy was about to fucking lose it now. Being on the verge of tears before a comforting hand was placed on his shoulder, his head tilting as he followed that hand that was connected to Gordon sitting next to him. Gordon’s expression was holding the emotions of understanding, comfort, and sympathy as he stared back at the panicking Tommy.

“Tommy, your not alone here. I-we will get Sunkist back, trust me. We will all get out of here and kick Black Mesa’s ass, rescue Sunkist, and go home.” Gordon piped up, keeping eye contact with Tommy as a giant hand gently opened up and placed a digit onto Tommy’s other shoulder. 

“yeah tommy, we’re all gonna get outta here, and we’re gonna play Heavenly Sword on PlayStation. Just you, me, Sunkist, and feetman here. if he can even play that is, and not epic fail every three seconds.”

Gordon would have shot Benrey a glare, or even retorted at Benrey if it was not for a soft chuckle that came from Tommy as he brought his sleeve up to whip at his misty eyes. He couldn’t resist laughing at Benrey’s bizarre speech patterns, or was it the insult to Mister Freeman? Did not matter right now, he needed to be strong here, focus on what was happening now and not what’s happening later, like what Gordon does.

The group went back to eating what was left of their packaged meals; they had surprisingly gone ice cold after the team’s powwow session with Tommy, but a meal is a meal, no matter how cold or hot it was. Gordon forced the rest of the sandwiches down his gullet before washing the remaining crumbs down with the rest of the soda. Tommy, on the other hand, had only taken a few more sips out of his bag before having to stop entirely. He did not like the freezing temperature of the soup at all, and it made him feel sick, just eating it when it was at this temperature. Luckily the rest of his soda would tie him over until they needed to fill their stomachs again. Neither of the smaller group members wanted to leave their trash just lying around either, could attract the local aliens to a free snack, if they ate human food that was. Or maybe give away where they had been to any Black Mesa personnel that may slither their way into this plane of existence.

“bros gonna finish that?” Benrey asked while his eyes were fixated on the grouped trash that was on the rock beside Tommy and Gordon.

“But w-w-wouldn’t that not be good for your health B-Benrey? That certainly goes against OSHA regulations.

“Tommy, I’ve seen the man eat an entire HEV suit like a fruit chew. He’ll be fine.” Gordon shortly replied, taking his portion of the food trash to Benrey before patting on the giant’s arm like he was some sort of one-touch trashcan opener. Which, for now, he was, lowing his head some so that Gordon could easily toss the trash into his open maw like it was some sort of basketball hoop, and Gordon just scored the winning point for the team. Tommy just stood there perplexed by the whole situation for a second before just shrugging and getting up to do the same thing, grabbing his unfinished trash and throwing it right into the open hoop of Benrey’s trash chute. Benrey only closed his mouth when the litter had landed in his mouth, not even chewing this time as he simply swallowed the whole dumpster of trash. 

Benrey was a weird Entity for sure. Especially when he suddenly went stiff, his body shooting upright as more eyes opened up in the darker parts of the shadowy part on his face, all frantically darting around, trying to find something to look at before they all collectively locked right.

“I-is everything okay, Benrey?” Asked Tommy, approaching his alien friend.

“yeah, bro, yeah. another portal just opened somewhere over there.” Benrey pointed off into the far distance, beyond a collection of islands.  
“T-That maybe the rest of the Science Team!”

“Or it could be more Black Mesa boot boys…”

There was a short pause after Gordon had said that. There WAS that chance, but they had a couple of guns on their side. As well as a fucking giant alien Benrey to wipe out an entire platoon in one sweep. So what was there to worry about?

“either way, I still need to go and check it out. Just in case of either.”

“T-That’s t-true.”

The two smaller being quickly made their way back to the cargo crates that were deeper in the cave. They needed to reload their ammunition before they departed, Gordon once again smashing open the crate with his crowbar to reveal the look within. More guns and bullets, just what the duo needed. Gordon scoped up more boxes of ammunition for his revolver as Tommy grabbed his own automatic weapon and bullets before the two turned and made their way back to the patiently waiting alien.

Benrey lowered himself further towards the island once the two were close enough so that he could lay out his palm for the two scientists to step onto and make themselves comfortable by sitting down so that they would not trip and fall out once Benrey started moving again.

“ROAD TRIP!” Is what Benrey yelled once again before blasting off towards the next portal.

All the while, Gordon could not help but worry about the rest of the science team. If Black Messa had captured Tommy and Sunkist already, then who else was on the chopping block to be snagged up next? Doctor Coomer? Bubby? Even Darnold, he was a horary member of the team as well. Would he be thrown to the same alien hounds for betraying Black Mesa since he gave Gordon the secret potion that gave him that sick arm gun?

Knowing Black Mesa and what they had done to him and his team already, it would not surprise him in the slightest.

All Gordon hoped for is for the team to get to the remaining team members before the aliens do.


End file.
